Switzerland - On World TB Day 2017, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) joins the Stop TB Partnership, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other key partners in redoubling efforts to increase public awareness of tuberculosis and its impact on vulnerable populations such as migrants.

Switzerland - We live in a world in constant motion, writes IOM Director General William Lacy Swing. This is defined by the mobility of capital, goods and services but above all the mobility of people. Millions of people are moving, within and across borders, in search of something better.

On International Day of the Migrant (18 December), Director General William Lacy Swing of the International Organization for Migration released the following essay:

A report arriving on my desk twice weekly tells a tragic story. It details the number of migrants who have died. They die when the vessels smugglers cram them into sink, they die of exhaustion crossing deserts, or much worse they die when those holding them captive - in places like Libya - take everything they and their families can give only to murder and bury the migrants in mass graves.

IOM rose from the ashes of World War Two 65 years ago. In the battle-scarred continent of Europe, no government alone could help survivors who wanted no more than an opportunity to resume their lives in freedom and with dignity. The first incarnation of IOM was created to resettle refugees during this post-war period.

The European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI) conducted a research on human trafficking in the Baltic Sea as part of a IOM Helsinki’s counter-trafficking project. The research was co-funded by the Nordic council of Ministers.

With the power of Shorthand, IOM staff recount the first-hand experiences of Afghan immigrants on the arid border crossing between Afghanistan and Iran. In a powerful collection of words and pictures, IOM staff tell stories of the long road from Herat to Tehran, and the places in between.

At the United Nations Summit on Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants which took place on Monday September 19th, 2016 in New York, IOM Director General William Lacy and UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon signed a document linking IOM to the UN as one of its related organizations. This event signalled the culmination of a process that began in earnest in June 2016 when IOM Member States unanimously endorsed the process to join the UN.